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Kenner The Real Ghostbusters Toy Line
The Real Ghostbusters Toy line was created by Kenner from 1986 through 1991. It was mostly related to the Animated Series, however the Ecto-1a and ECTO-Charger where both related to the Ghostbusters II Film. Also, Filmations Ghostbusters had a line of Toys as well being produced by Tyco. Overview The Kenner line of The Real Ghostbusters first hit the stores fulfilling Christmas pre-orders in 1986 (notably the 1986 first print sold out in pre-orders). Later, the toys began to be put on shelves in January of 1987. The line continued being made and sold til the spring of 1991. It had ten waves of toys (based on card rearrangements) with at least one more planned. Notably the line ended during the Kenner and Hasbro merger in 1991. Finger Pops In 1979, Kenner released "Finger Pops", which were foam cylinders that could be projected in the air. A similar type of product to Nerf like foam products, it was Kenner's answer to Parker Brothers Nerf line. The concept was brought to the Real Ghostbusters line with "Finger Pop Fiends", which along with having the same function also share the name "Finger Pops". Also in 1979, Kenner released a second toy in the line called "Finger Pops Popper". This item as well was in many regards a precursor to the "GhostPopper", which would be able to fire foam pops. GhostPopper also shares the name Popper and refers to the ammo as "ghostpops" or "pops". The foam pops were also used with the "ECTO Popper & ECTO-Goggles", which uses the same idea and adds temporary storage on the goggles. List of Toys The list is based on packaging back cards of the '''American version line'. For releases in other countries/regions please see the Foreign Market Releases section of this article. Sometimes the toy was released with other toys but wasn't included on the back card, in which case its included but noted. A few items were released that didn't have back cards and were not shown included with a wave. Educated guesses are used in those cases.'' First Wave It is believed that the first wave toys were released during the Christmas season in 1986, mostly to fulfill layaway orders. Officially, the first advertisements appeared, done by Toy's R Us in the newspapers around the end of January 1987. The toy line first wave first printing is believed to have been all the figures, but not the Ghost Zapper or the Plush Toys. Second printing which was released with additions from wave 2 was done sometime in the spring of 1987. A third printing was most likely done for the Christmas season of 1987. The Action Ghost "Green Ghost" incorrectly was printed in the first and second printing with item number #81020. The toy was given the correct item number on the third pressing. Second Wave The second wave was released sometime in the spring of 1987. The Action Ghost assortment (started wave 1) had additions of three ghost action figures. A second pressing for the three Action Ghosts was made for the Christmas season on 1987. Third Wave The third wave was likely first released to fulfill layaway orders in the Christmas season of 1987. The first public promotion for the wave didn't happen til mid January of 1988. Initially Fright Feature Janine Melnitz was not released as she wasn't listed on back of card. She was later released in the fourth wave. The three Mini Ghost toy sets were released with their assortment number of "80400" mistakenly printed on the front of the card as the item number. All three also share the same bar code on the back. The Canada line printed corrected item numbers. The Fright Features Heroes are the most common of the Hero sets released. They were released in all major foreign markets toy lines, including being the exclusive hero line for Brazil's Caça-Fantasmas released by Estrela. Fourth Wave Wave four was like wave two released in the late spring 1988. Janine saw a release for the first time as a add on toy to the Fright Line from wave three. Along with Haunted Humans, there was two ghosts released that ended up with two printings with errors. Haunted Humans saw a sequel of sorts in Kenner's Beetlejuice line with Neighborhood Nasties group of four figures in late 1990. Fifth Wave Wave five saw it's release in January 1989. This line included stickers for the "Find The Ghosts" Contest promotion. Sixth Wave Some sites merge this wave with five or seven, however going by packaging cards it is a clearly released batch of toys during spring/summer of 1989. This wave is assumed to have been released late spring around May, much like wave four and two. It is unclear why they didn't release this as part of wave seven a few months later, but one of the toys released in the wave didn't appear on the back card til the next wave card. Seventh Wave Wave seven most likely was released sometime in August or September, and was included a new group of hero toys. Eighth Wave Ninth Wave Tenth Wave Unreleased Toys *Nutrona Blaster In development in wave 1/wave 2 *Action Vehicle: Glow Copter Vehicle (unreleased) *Action Vehicle: Fire Frighter Vehicle (unreleased) *Playset: Egon's Lab (unreleased) *Backpack Heroes Figure: Egon Spengler (unreleased) *Backpack Heroes Figure: Ray Stantz (unreleased) *Backpack Heroes Figure: Peter Venkman (unreleased) *Backpack Heroes Figure: Winston Zeddmore (unreleased) *Toy Weapon: Ghost Blaster (unreleased) *Toy Weapon: Slimerizer (unreleased) *Inflatable Gooper Ghost: Green Ghost -concept illustration *15" Backpack Heroes: Egon Spengler -prototype Play-Doh Tie-ins Released in 1987, Kenner introduced in it's Play-Doh line released The Real Ghostbusters Play-Doh set. A year later, as a special free item, Kenner included in the Play-Doh Fun Factory "The Real Ghostbusters Fun Kit". Foreign Market Releases Besides America, there were seven other lines produced and released. America and the UK releases seemed to be their own lineages from which other lines based their toy packaging and elements on. Also, some of these lines also imported in toys made for other markets. *'The Real Ghostbusters' from America was the default line made by Kenner. Articles on the wiki are based on these unless not released in America. **The Real Ghostbusters made by Kenner for the country of Canada. It was bilingual and has both English and French language on it. It follows the American lineage exclusively. *The Real Ghostbusters was made by Kenner for the United Kingdom. It took on a different design from the American counterpart, which usually added a glow to illustrations and darker background blue color. Hot color drop shadows were also featured behind the toys on the cardboard. **The Real Ghostbusters/S.O.S Fantômes was made by Kenner for the countries of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Some of the first wave was only translated to French. The line uses the UK lineage. **The Real Ghostbusters made by Kenner for the country of Germany. Year three (1989) likely was not made for German. The line uses the UK lineage. **Gli Acchiappafantasmi made by Kenner for the country of Italy. Of the lines that uses the UK lineage, it is the rarest. *Caça-Fantasmas was made by Estrela for the country of Brazil. This line had used the American lineage, but altered it to fit with the short line. The line was made in 1991, after the American line had ended. *The Real Ghostbusters made by Jocsa for the country of Argentina. The line uses both lineages and even borrows from the Brazil line the year previous. The line featured some exclusive toys, which were altered versions of previously released Kenner toys. The line is noted for a cheap knock-off type quality to the toys. However, the toys were made under license in 1992. Jocsa also sold imports of the toys from America, Canada, France/Belgium/Netherlands, and the UK. Exclusively Imported Releases *Auriken The Real Ghostbusters Toy Line made by Kenner (America), but relabeled by Auriken for release in Mexico. While Auriken may have made some of the role playing weapons and vehicles sold in the other lines, its packaging was done in America. *'Portugal' received imports of the UK line by importer LDA. Seemed to vary between year two to year four. *'Australia' received imports from America, Canada, and the UK. *'Spain' received imports from France/Belgium/Netherlands by importer Loustau And Sachnovsky, SA. Noted by Gog on Toys from the Past blog, the toys appeared in 1992. It seemed that only year two toys were imported. Kenner Toys and Art Reuses During the time of The Real Ghostbusters merchandise wave, many companies had released licensed products based on the cartoons promo art and design sheets. However, in a few causes the merchandise itself was based on the Kenner toy series exclusively. *The Real Ghostbusters: Night Light AM Radio by Justin Products, Inc. featured a slightly shrunk down Stay Puft made of a soft plastic. *The Real Ghostbusters: Ecto-Plazm Bubble Bath & Spooky Sponge Sets by Grosvenor. They featured the "Ecto-Plazm" spelling along with both H2 Ghost and Slimer (aka Green Ghost). Slimer shaped sponge is also based on Kenner Slimer illustration. *The Real Ghostbusters: Bubble Bath (Slimer Ecto-Plazm) by DuCair Bioessence Inc. Features the ectoplasm spelled "Ecto-PLazm" like the Kenner line, and on the back the tag line "Proof of a Ghostly Encounter" from the play gel cans. *Los Cazafantasmas chicle bubble gum mini prize figures made by General De Confiteria S.A. Note that five of the eight mini prizes are based on Kenner companion ghosts. Bootlegs Note that some of these are more based on solely the show in spirit. But likely are still aiming to take from the Kenner market, therefore are competing for market space unfairly. *Sungold Spook Chasers Toy Line, which bootlegged all four Ghostbusters from the first hero set including having removable packs and a ghost with each. *The Real Ghostbusters: The Frankenstein / Dracula Monster bootleg was a cut and dry bootleg that doesn't have a company credit. It was likely made for the market in the mid 90's. *The Real Ghostbusters meets M.A.S.K. hybrid bootleg was likely a Mexican bootleg that reused M.A.S.K. toy molds to make "Real Ghostbusters" toys. *Brigada Cola Toy Line which is a line of toys based on the Argentina TV series "Brigada Cola". Many of the figures in the line used recasts of Peter's classic mold. Trivia *Toy Weapons such as GhostZapper and GhostPopper have stylized names using CamelCase. A practice of writing compound words or phrases such that each word or abbreviation begins with a capital letter. References in IDW Comics Also See *Ghostbusters Toys *Mattel Ghostbusters Toy Line *Diamond Select MiniMate Ghostbusters Toy Line *Trendmasters Extreme Ghostbusters Toy Line External links *Ghostbusters Toy Archive *Ghostbusters Collector *EctoContainment References Gallery Toy Guide Images WeaponActionFigureToysWave1Guide.jpg MonstersFrightFeatureHeroesHauntedHumansGuide1989.png ClassicAndMiniGhostsGuide.jpg FrightFeatureActionFiguresGuide.jpg HighwayHaunterAndVehicleToysGuide.jpg ClassicGhostsActionFiguresGuide2.jpg HauntedHumansActionFiguresGuide.jpg HauntedVehiclesAndGhostSpookerToysGuide1988.png ActionToyGuide1989ScreamingHeroes.png WaterZapperListing1989.png NutronaBlasterListing1989.png EctoPopperListing1989.png ActionToyGuide1990FearsomeFlushFingerPopGreenGhost.png Finger Pops Related Images FingerPopsbyKennersc01.png|Front of packaging for Finger Pops released by Kenner in 1979. This package was a later produced copy promoting the use of the Finger Pops Popper. FingerPopsbyKennersc02.png|Back of packaging for Finger Pops released by Kenner in 1979. This package was a later produced copy promoting the use of the Finger Pops Popper. FingerPopsPopperbyKennersc01.png|Front of packaging for Finger Pops Popper released by Kenner in 1979. Foreign Market Related Images UKYear1987PosterKennersc01.png|Foreign Market UK poster for 1987 year. UKYear1990PosterKennersc01.png|Foreign Market UK poster for 1990 year. IDW Comics KennerFrightFeaturesIDWV2Issue16.jpg|As seen in Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #16 KennerShapeChangerFemaleTerrorBirdGetReal01.jpg|Non-Canon Cameo in Ghostbusters: Get Real Issue #1 Ghostbusters2016IDWVol3Issue3.jpg|Non-canon cameo of ad for Fright Features in Ghostbusters International #3 SquisherIDW01.jpg|Squisher seen in Ghostbusters International #8 GrannyGrossIDW06.jpg|Granny Gross seen in Ghostbusters International #8 LongRangePKEScanner01.jpg|Non-Canon reference seen in Ghostbusters 101 #4 LongRangePKEScanner02.jpg|Non-Canon reference seen in Ghostbusters 101 #4 BadToTheBoneGhostIDWAnnual2018CoverB.jpg|Bad-To-The-Bone Ghost seen on Ghostbusters Annual 2018 Cover B ClassicHeroKennerIDWAnnual2018.jpg|Classic Hero ghost seen in Ghostbusters Annual 2018 ConnlasArmy17.jpg|As seen in Ghostbusters Annual 2018 FearsomeFlushBrainBlasterIDWAnnual2018.jpg|As seen in Ghostbusters Annual 2018 KennerGhostsIDWAnnual2018-1.jpg|As seen in Ghostbusters Annual 2018 EctoPlazmCrossingOverIssue5CoverB-1.jpg|As seen on Cover B of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #5 EctoPlazmCrossingOverIssue5CoverB-2.jpg|As seen on Cover B of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #5 EgonsLabToyCrossingOverIssue5CoverB.jpg|As seen on Cover B of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #5 SlimerRGBIDW11.jpg|Slimer 68-R holding watermelon seen in Crossing Over Issue #5 GhostbustersCrossingOverIssueSevenCoverB.jpg|Nod to Classic Hero Ray seen with Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #7 Cover B KennerIDWCrossingOverIssue8CoverB.jpg|Non-canon cameo seen on Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #8 Cover B KennerIDWCrossingOverIssue8CoverB02.jpg|Non-canon cameo seen on Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #8 Cover B Category:Merchandise Toy Lines Category:Kenner Category:RGB Merchandise